Russia Russia is lurching towards a major economic crisis, experts predicted yesterday, following news that the price of oil had slumped to under $50 (£33.72) a barrel. The collapse was likely to have catastrophic consequences including a possible devaluation of the rouble and a severe drop in...

Well, I had my year end review yesterday at the Cube Farm. The good news is that I am still employed because as luck (or constant effort shall have it) I'm indispensable. The bad news is that management cannot reward me for my efforts with anything other than praise. Yep, salary is flat and bonus is...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a five-year low today, closing down nearly 450 points. And the New York Times Co. had an even worse day. The company's stock dove almost 10%, lower than it's been in decades. And just after the close of the markets came the payoff: the company is cutting its divi...

I told you guys we were in a recession back in March, but now I fear we could move from a recession straight into a depression. Things could get really bad… Let’s examine shall we? In economics, a depression is a sustained, long downturn in one or more economies. It is more severe than a...

Layoff/Employment Watch - - -   Cuts at JPMorgan;  Deutsche Bank Cuts in NY, London.   [WHO] Financial Services Stocks: Where They're Headed - - -   It's midday, the Dow's up around 71 points, but the C-I Top Twenty Index is off 3.3%.  Losers out numbe...

Whee that was fun! I won't go so far as to say "let's do it again" but we are already doing it again as I had pointed out to members yesterday that this is not even as bad as our Wednesday wipe-out of October 15th, when the Dow dipped 733 points to 8,577 or Wednesday Oct 22nd, when th...

The thoughts running around in my brain as to the severity and possible outcomes to our situation are overwhelming. We are witnessing the greatest destruction of wealth and real deflation in our lifetimes, if not in history. In the meantime I cant help but think the FED is gaining some control over ...

Covering any part of the positives in this market has been literally as rewarding as jumping in the bear cage with the bears at the zoo.  We have been refraining from doing as many stocks which are on 52-week lows as the list is just too many companies.  But after the close we perused the ...

What is an individual investor to do? Is the market closer to the bottom or the top?  Is it too late to sell or should one move to cash?  Is it time to 'bottom-fish'?  Are we on the verge of a Great Depression 2 or is 2009 to find us with indices pushing towards new highs? I w...

Lots of pirate news tonight. The pirates are living high on the hog with their ill-gotten gains, but the Indian navy just blew one of their ships out of the water. Also, the Saudis appear to be negotiating with the freebooters to try to get their supertanker back… Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, H...